Diplomatic mission
| British Consulate General Hong Kong 英國駐香港總領事館 | |
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| Location | Hong Kong |
| Address | 1 Supreme Court Road, Admiralty, Hong Kong Island |
| Coordinates | 22°16′34.25″N 114°9′53.7″E / 22.2761806°N 114.164917°E / 22.2761806; 114.164917 |
| Consul General | Brian Davidson, consul general to Hong Kong and Macau |
| Website | British Consulate General Hong Kong |
| Consulate General of the United Kingdom, Hong Kong | |||||||||||
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| Traditional Chinese | 英國駐香港總領事館 | ||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 英国驻香港总领事馆 | ||||||||||
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The British Consulate General Hong Kong (BCGHK), located at 1 Supreme Court Road, Admiralty, Hong Kong Island, is one of the largest British consulates general in the world and is bigger than many British embassies and high commissions. It is responsible for maintaining British ties with Hong Kong and Macau.
Together with the Consulate General of the United States of America, Hong Kong and Macau; the Consulate General of Malaysia; and the Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia, the British consulate general is among the few consulates general in Hong Kong to be housed in its own building.
Role
Due to Hong Kong's status as a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China, the consul general in Hong Kong reports directly to the China Department of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, instead of to the British ambassador to Beijing, unlike consuls general in mainland China. The consulate general in Hong Kong also serves Macau, with several diplomats accredited specifically to Macau.
The consulate general was also the Regional Passport Processing Centre, handling passport applications from British citizens resident elsewhere in Asia.
Previously, it also processed applications received by the British Trade and Cultural Office (now called the British Office) in Taipei, Taiwan. It also received registrations of marriages from British nationals in Taiwan, although there was no legal requirement for British nationals to do so.
This role ceased in 2014, and all passport-related matters have since been handled by His Majesty's Passport Office in the UK. Furthermore, visa application matters are outsourced to a separate company since 2015.
History
When Hong Kong was under British rule, the governor represented the British government, as well as the British monarch as head of state. Matters relating to British nationality were handled by the Hong Kong Immigration Department.
During the negotiations between Britain and China on the future of Hong Kong, the British proposed the establishment of a "British commissioner" following transfer of sovereignty to China. Some of the diplomatic representatives of Commonwealth countries in Hong Kong were already known as "commissioners". This was rejected by the Chinese as an attempt to make the future Hong Kong Special Administrative Region into a member or associated member of the Commonwealth.
However, the United Kingdom's commercial interests were represented by the British Trade Commission. The last senior trade commissioner (1993-1997), Francis Cornish, became the first British consul general following the transfer of sovereignty to China, on 1 July 1997.
The consulate general was designed by British architects Terry Farrell and Partners. Opened by Princess Anne on 30 January 1997, it was a HK$290 million project, with the British Council in an adjoining building opened in December that year.
The consul general has resided at a rented flat at Opus Hong Kong since 2013.
List of HM consuls general
List of HM consuls general in Hong Kong:
| Name | Tenure began | Tenure ended | Tenure length | Date of birth (and age) when published |
Prior Role | Subsequent Role | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Francis Cornish (zh) |
July 1997 | November 1997 | 4 months | (1942-05-18) 18 May 1942 (age 82) | Senior Trade Commissioner to Hong Kong | Head of FCDO News Department |
| 2 | Sir Andrew Burns (zh) |
November 1997 | June 2000 | 2 years, 7 months | (1943-07-21) 21 July 1943 (age 81) | Deputy Under Secretary of State | British High Commissioner to Canada |
| 3 | Sir James Hodge (zh) |
June 2000 | November 2003 | 3 years, 5 months | (1943-12-24) 24 December 1943 (age 80) | British Ambassador to Thailand | Retired from Diplomatic Service |
| 4 | Stephen Bradley (zh) |
November 2003 | March 2008 | 4 years, 4 months | (1958-04-04) 4 April 1958 (age 66) | Minister, Deputy Head of Mission & Consul General to Beijing, China | Retired from Diplomatic Service |
| 5 | Andrew Seaton (zh) |
March 2008 | September 2012 | 4 years, 6 months | (1954-04-20) 20 April 1954 (age 70) | Consul General to Chicago, USA | Retired from Diplomatic Service |
| 6 | Caroline Wilson (zh) |
September 2012 | September 2016 | 4 years | (1970-08-12) 12 August 1970 (age 54) | Minister Counsellor to Moscow, Russia | Europe Director at the FCDO |
| 7 | Andrew Heyn (zh) |
September 2016 | December 2020 | 4 years, 3 months | (1962-01-14) 14 January 1962 (age 62) | Director, Leadership, Governance & Diversity Strategy at the Cabinet Office | Retired from Diplomatic Service |
| – | Tamsin Heath (acting) | December 2020 | July 2021 | 7 months | Deputy Consul General to Hong Kong | Deputy Consul General to Hong Kong | |
| 8 | Brian Davidson (zh) |
July 2021 | Incumbent | 3 years, 5 months | (1964-04-28) 28 April 1964 (age 60) | British Ambassador to Thailand |
See also
- List of diplomatic missions of the United Kingdom
- Consular missions in Hong Kong
- Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, London
- Hong Kong–United Kingdom relations
- Foreign Office and Colonial Office
- Consulate General of Canada in Hong Kong and Macao
- Consulate General of the United States, Hong Kong and Macau
References
- "FCO Ref: 0661-08 Your Freedom Of Information Request". Far Eastern Group, Foreign & Commonwealth Office. 3 September 2008. p. 2. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 June 2019. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
- ^ Access, appointment only Please visit www gov uk/world/hong-kong or call +2901 3000; Times, Opening. "British Consulate General Hong Kong - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - The UK's relations with Hong Kong: 30 years after the Joint Declaration, Tenth Report of Session 2014–15, Foreign Affairs Select Committee, House of Commons, 6 March 2015, page 16 PDF
- "British Embassy Macao". Foreign & Commonwealth Office. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
- team, Central (9 November 2010). "Passport application changes for Brits living abroad". webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 10 April 2011. Retrieved 22 August 2020.
- "Our office in Taipei". webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 10 November 2009. Retrieved 11 August 2008.
- "Marriage in Taiwan". 2 February 2009. Archived from the original on 2 February 2009.
- Hong Kong's New Constitutional Order: The Resumption of Chinese Sovereignty and the Basic Law, Yash Ghai, Hong Kong University Press, 1997, page 167
- ^ The Chinese government resumed exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, People's Republic of China
- Hong Kong $ Directory, Local Printing Press, 1987, page 32
- Hunting with the Tigers: Doing Business with Hong Kong, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam, Claudia Cragg, Pfeiffer & Company, 1993, page 417
- Chief Executive holds 'useful, cordial' talks with British Prime Minister, Government of Hong Kong, 22 October 1997
- "Explore Architecture". www.architecture.com.
- Francis Cornish, South China Morning Post, 31 January 1997
- Britain's Hong Kong Consul General in £35 million flat, The Daily Telegraph, 9 June 2013
- "Caroline Wilson CMG - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk.
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| Diplomatic posts only with no consular facilities. Consular posts only with no diplomatic functions. The United Kingdom and His Majesty's Government do not recognise or have formal bilateral intergovernmental, diplomatic or consular relations with the (generally unrecognised) Government of the Republic of China in Taipei. Functions in Taiwan as an accredited informal and unofficial representative post and a semi-official informal consular post. | |
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